Su Jiu forcibly suppressed the urge to slap the [Dragon Saliva Stone] back into Su Ji's face.
She stiffened her expression again, her voice cooling by three degrees.
"Speak."
Seeing Su Jiu's demeanor soften slightly, Su Ji quickly seized the opportunity. "It's crucial."
As expected, though Su Jiu didn't ask directly, her perked ears and slight forward lean betrayed her curiosity.
Su Ji cleared his throat, his exaggerated expression fading as an unprecedented gravity settled over him.
"Junior Sister, do you remember when I asked you if Foundation Establishment requires overcoming a lightning tribulation?"
Su Jiu paused, then nodded without a word.
Su Ji continued, his voice dropping to a whisper.
"When I establish my foundation, there will definitely be a lightning tribulation."
"And not just any ordinary one."
He hesitated, recalling the visions from his glimpse into fate.
"To be precise, it's a divine punishment."
"Once I begin my Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, the divine punishment will descend, covering at least a fifty-mile radius centered on me."
"At that moment, you, me, and everyone in the Love-Longing Sect—every living thing—will be reduced to ashes in an instant."
The cavern fell into a terrifying silence.
Only the distant roars of the fire drake and the bubbling of flowing magma could be heard.
Su Jiu was inclined to believe him.
Su Ji's ability to foresee the future was nothing short of horrifying.
No wonder...
"So, you came here to..."
Su Ji cut her off. "Exactly."
"This is the only solution I could think of."
"Only deep underground, hundreds of meters below the surface, can I possibly evade the divine punishment and complete my Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment!"
The sheer weight of his words left Su Jiu's mind racing as she pieced everything together.
Even in the midst of his life-or-death pursuit of the Dao, Su Ji had still taken the time to retrieve the potentially useful [Dragon Saliva Stone] for her.
Her fingers tightened around the still-warm stone, her knuckles whitening as her clear fox eyes filled with doubt.
"But... Senior Brother, are you certain this place can shield you from the tribulation?"
Her voice carried skepticism as she laid out the facts.
"We're barely a hundred zhang beneath the surface."
"Given what you've described—if the tribulation's power truly spans fifty miles centered on you..."
"This... given its destructive force... there's a ninety percent chance it won't work."
She wasn't questioning him—just stating the obvious.
A hundred zhang underground might seem deep to an ordinary cultivator, but against what Su Ji called a "divine punishment," such distance would hardly be enough.
"Though... the power might be slightly diminished..."
Yet, Su Ji showed no trace of panic.
"I don't know. All I know is that if I stay here, I'll survive the tribulation."
His words shattered Su Jiu's understanding.
How?
If the Heavenly Dao intends to punish you, how could simply changing locations make it relent?
This defied all logic!
"But—"
"Junior Sister." Su Ji interrupted again, leaning in abruptly until their faces were inches apart.
His gaze locked onto her bewildered fox-like eyes.
"Has any future I've foreseen ever deviated from reality?"
Su Jiu fell silent.
No.
Not even the slightest discrepancy.
"I only have one life. I wouldn't gamble with it."
Su Jiu was at a loss for words.
She trusted Su Ji.
But she couldn't comprehend the reasoning behind this.
It contradicted every bit of cultivation knowledge she had learned from her clan's ancient texts.
Seeing her still-furrowed brows, Su Ji abruptly shifted topics.
"Don't waste time worrying about the tribulation."
"Instead, you should focus on... something else."
"What else?"
Su Ji's expression darkened further, more solemn than when he had mentioned the "divine punishment."
"Besides the divine punishment..."
"When I establish my foundation, I'll also trigger... an inner demon."
An inner demon?
Su Jiu froze.
Her lips parted, but no words came out.
Divine punishment and an inner demon?
Anyone listening would think a supreme expert was ascending to the upper realm.
Was this really the kind of spectacle a Qi Refining cultivator should face when breaking through to Foundation Establishment?
Su Ji's troubles seemed even more outrageous than those of a Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox like her.
"Are you certain, Senior Brother?"
Her voice wavered slightly.
Su Ji nodded heavily, his face etched with helpless resignation.
"Absolutely."
Su Jiu was truly at a loss now.
Her delicate brows knitted as she frantically combed through her clan's records for any mention of inner demons.
"Inner demons... I know very little."
Her voice was soft, tinged with defeat.
"But like heavenly tribulations, outsiders can hardly interfere."
"I do have some methods to calm the mind and steady the spirit—ways to help you stabilize your consciousness."
"But when it comes to confronting the inner demon... in the end, you'll have to rely on yourself."
The moment she finished speaking, Su Ji's eyes lit up. He seized her hand and began playing with her fingers.
"Any help is better than none!"
Buff or no buff, he'd take what he could get.
Su Jiu was caught off guard by his sudden enthusiasm.
She instinctively tried to pull her hand back, but Su Ji only tightened his grip.
"Senior Brother, let go first."
"This... this method is a bit... unconventional."
"How unconventional?"
Her cheeks flushed as she averted her gaze, unable to meet his unnervingly bright eyes.
"It's called [Soul and Flesh Entwined]."
Her voice was barely audible, the last few words likely only reaching her own ears.
"It's a secret art of the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox lineage, usable only by those with pure bloodline."
"To perform it, the caster and recipient must... synchronize their minds, merge their spiritual senses, and become one."
Su Ji blinked, baffled.
"Junior Sister, speak plainly. I don’t understand."
Su Jiu bit her lower lip.
"Don’t worry about it. If you truly can’t overcome the inner demon, then we’ll discuss it..."
She doubted it would come to that.
Just look at Su Ji—even while fleeing for his life, he couldn’t resist taunting the fire drake.
How could someone like him possibly have an inner demon?
If anything, the ones developing inner demons should be the people who crossed paths with him.

rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!

ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!

ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!

+ Slow Paced + Main Character Thrives Together with His Disciples】 Transmigrated into a cultivation world, Chu Xingchen awakens a discipleship system that reveals the tags of his disciples! Starting from scratch, he builds the strongest sect. Disciple One: Li Yingling 【Gold Tag: Genius Cultivator】【Purple Tag: Extremely Lucky】【Blue Tag: Bewitchingly Beautiful】 Disciple Two: Li Hangtian 【Gold Tag: Reincarnated】【Purple Tag: Ruthless and Decisive】【Blue Tag: Loyal and Noble】 Disciple Three: ??? 【Orange Tag: Alluring Demoness】【???】【???】 Thus, in the cultivation world, an unremarkable little sect appears out of nowhere, but little do others know that each member of this sect is a powerhouse in their own right. The book is also known as: Cultivation? It's Exactly Like This!